BURGESS v. ROTH

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1970), plaintiff, Walter A. Burgess, brought this civil rights action, alleging that defendants deprived him of rights secured to him by the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States by detaining him in prison for six days after they had decided to release him. The individual defendants were or are members of the Board of Probation and Parole of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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Under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, defendants have moved for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiff has not stated a claim for relief under the Civil Rights Act and, in the alternative, raising several affirmative defenses. In response, plaintiff has also moved for summary judgment. The facts of this case are largely uncontested; the contested facts are not material. The case is therefore ripe for summary judgment. For reasons that will hereinafter appear, I have concluded that plaintiff has not stated a claim upon which relief can be granted under the Civil Rights Act. Consequently, his motion for summary judgment must be denied and defendants' motion for summary judgment must be granted.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

1. On December 29, 1967, plaintiff was sentenced in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas to a two-to-ten year term of imprisonment on a variety of robbery-related criminal charges.

2. On June 14, 1970, plaintiff was paroled.

3. On March 10, 1971, plaintiff was arrested by the Abington Township Police Department on charges of assault and battery (private complaint), unlawful entry and malicious mischief, and was incarcerated in the Montgomery County Prison.

4. On March 11, 1971, defendants lodged a parole detainer against plaintiff.

5. On March 15, 1971, Justice of the Peace William Keller
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set bail for plaintiff on the March 10 charges at $1,000.

7. On March 24, 1971, plaintiff was found guilty of the lesser charge of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to pay a fine of $61.00.

8. On March 25, 1971, defendants voted to release plaintiff from detention. That same day, they issued an order to that effect.

9. On March 27, 1971, while plaintiff was still incarcerated in the Montgomery County Prison, a riot occurred there.

10. Plaintiff alleges that, though he did not participate in the March 27 riot, he received a head injury while attempting to return to his cell during it, and that his purportedly illegal detention was the proximate cause of this injury. Defendants allege that they lack information about the truth of the averments about plaintiff's injury, and deny the ...

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